Farm requests to host, provide water for man camp
Van Horn
A Culberson County pecan farm has emerged as a flashpoint for those opposed to border wall construction after it asked the local water conservation district to use its permitted well water for a 500-person man camp on its land—leading one wall opponent to announce on social media: “we have seen the enemy,” due to its cooperation with federal wall builders.
Nancy Sanchez, who lives on a ranch about a mile from the proposed man camp—at Pecan Grove Farms, located off of Highway 90 south near Lobo, 13 miles south of Van Horn—is concerned about the safety of her family, both from the sheer number of men to be housed and the obvious increase in construction traffic. “I have children, and that puts us in danger,” she said.
A representative from Pecan Grove Farms went to the Culberson County Underground Water Conservation District Board meeting on April 22 to ask it to “overlook” its permit requirements for how it can use its annual allotted water well draws, according to Haley Davis, the district’s general manager.
“Currenty, they have 1,817 acre feet allotted to them, and they have stayed under 900 the past three years,” Davis said. “So they’re asking to just use that other amount of acre feet, and they will still stay under [their limit].” The total amount permitted equals almost 592 million gallons of water per year, with the amount available to the man camp at about 300 million gallons, or about 918,000 gallons a day. (According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American only uses 82 gallons a day, which would be 41,000 gallons a day for 500 workers.)
Pecan Grove Farms CEO Jose “Pepe” Guevara told the board that the water would be used to host a man camp on their land to facilitate border wall construction. Since the farm’s water permit is for agricultural use, it would need the board’s approval for that purpose.
Border wall opponents packed the meeting to comment against Guevara’s request. Speaking to the crowd was Yolanda Alvarado, whose family has ranched on the Rio Grande nearby for more than 100 years. A recording of the meeting was not immediately available, but Alvarado recalled her comments in a phone call with Big Bend Sentinel on Saturday.
“If people like you are here to make a dime off the destruction of Earth, I will pray for you in the afterlife,” Alvarado told the farm CEO. She said Guevara’s comment to the board included, “I just want to say the wall is coming whether we like it or not, and someone needs to house them.”
Sanchez also attended the meeting and said she was astounded that Guevara would consider a man camp at his farm with all the harmful impacts she envisions. “He doesn’t care,” she said. “All he cares about is money.”
Water district board members tabled the item, but a special meeting then was scheduled for Thursday, April 30, at 4 p.m. at 1400 W. Broadway in Van Horn. However, questions were raised on whether the meeting was posted correctly under the Open Meetings Act, and the district cancelled the meeting.
Guevara and Lalo Medina, another principal with Pecan Grove Farms, could not be reached for comment after requests were made with calls and emails to their corporate office.
The water district’s board chair, Lane Brewster, also works for Pecan Grove Farms. He could not be reached for comment. Davis said Brewster did not go into executive session to discuss the issue and that he has committed to recusing himself on votes on the matter.
While contractors have reached out to several area landowners about providing land, water and sewer hookups for temporary housing with man camps, the pecan farm is the first known landowner that has come before local officials to initiate the process. Davis said there was no official process for their request to the water district, so no paperwork was involved.
On March 30, the city of Valentine held an informational meeting with a packed house to hear concerns about a proposal from a contractor to put in a nearby man camp and use the town’s sole source of water. The contractor that contacted local officials did not attend, and after hearing mostly opposition to the idea, nothing has progressed further.
Similarly, representatives for Landgraf, Crutcher and Associates—an engineering firm out of Odessa—had inquired about water and wastewater hookups for a pair of 250-pad RV sites within the city of Presidio’s extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) in March. City documents showed the firm was asking about a plot of land near Lucy Rede Franco Middle School.
An engineer working with Pecan Grove Farms—Luke LaLiberty with Cushing Terrell, an architectural and building firm—confirmed his involvement in the project along with another “client” and said he could not comment further. LaLiberty later texted that his client declined to comment.
